


Thunderstruck

by KatieK101



Category: Warriors - Erin Hunter
Genre: F/M, Ottersplash is a bad bish, Timberfur loves his wife, something of a character study
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-06-17
Updated: 2020-06-17
Packaged: 2021-03-03 22:43:05
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,325
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/24773332
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/KatieK101/pseuds/KatieK101
Summary: Ottersplash is powerful, fearless, radiant. Timberfur thinks he should cower beneath her, but instead he's thunderstruck.
Relationships: Ottersplash/Timberfur (Warriors)
Kudos: 17





	Thunderstruck

_Powerful._

He's always known she was powerful.

Well, not always. Not until the time they were six moons old and sparring, and she landed such a strong blow to his head that she concussed him.

His mentor, Tanglewhisker, rushes him to the Medicine Cat Den.

Her mentor, Birdsong, forces her to spend the rest of the day pulling the elders' ticks.

And Timberpaw? He falls in love.

* * *

_Fearless._

When they were kits and she was the only one who wasn't afraid of the dark, he thought she was brave.

When they became apprentices and she would speak her mind to warriors, he thought she was reckless.

When they received their warrior names and she was always the first cat to rush to leap into battle, he thought she was fearless.

He keeps that opinion to himself for a long time. Despite his attempts to befriend Ottersplash, she's always considered him her rival and decidedly hates his guts. He humors her and plays along until someday, all of that changes and she allows him to speak to her without insults.

From that day on, they are something akin to friends. She doesn't like the term and tells him he is not allowed to use it, but she doesn't cuff his ear or storm away, and that's an improvement.

When she was an apprentice, Ottersplash developed a habit of fishing alone. Since she allowed their silly rivalry to end, Timberfur has developed a habit of keeping her company. He doesn't fish alongside her because she takes it as a personal challenge and insists they have a competition; but honestly, Timberfur can't think of a better way to spend his evening than to sit and watch her do what she does best until the sun begins to set.

After a few of these trips, Timberfur decides to strike up a conversation.

"My favorite fish is carp."

Ottersplash flicks an ear. "Congratulations. Do you want a reward?"

"Sure, a reward would be nice. What's your favorite fish?"

Her gaze had been focused on the silent pool, but it flickers towards him for a heartbeat. "How is that a reward?"

Timberfur shrugs, grinning easily. "I'm a knowledge seeker. Whatever your answer is, it'll thrill me."

Ottersplash snorts, unconvinced. She lets him wither in curiosity for a few heartbeats, then responds, "Tuna."

 _Duly noted._ "Tuna is good," he agrees with a nod. "I almost caught one the other day, but Rippleclaw said _he_ wanted to catch it and I'm terrified of him. No way in StarClan was I going to make him angry."

"So what? You saw it first, so it was your catch. If it were me, I would have told Rippleclaw he has frog-breath and shoved him into the water."

Timberfur snorts. "That's because you're fearless. I'd bet you've never been scared of anything in your life!"

He doesn't really mean anything by the statement, but Ottersplash falls silent. She refuses to glance from the pool, but he can tell she isn't focused on fishing anymore. Her reaction peaks his interest and he can't help but ask, "You're afraid of something?"

She shrugs, still refusing to look away from the pool. "I… I didn't use to be."

"What?" Timberfur isn't sure he wants to know the answer. If something existed that was scary enough to frighten Ottersplash of RiverClan, it must come from the depths of the Dark Forest itself.

She shifts her weight on her paws. "I… it was _you._ "

Timberfur recoils. " _Me_?" he echos, incredulous. _She's messing with me._

But Ottersplash nods. "That time- do you remember when you almost drowned?"

He blinks, caught off guard. "Uh, yeah, of course. It only happened a moon ago."

"Right. You've always been a strong swimmer, and when the river sucked you underneath and you didn't burst through a heartbeat later… when we all realized that you weren't going to… I don't know, I just, it hit me that if you died then you would be gone forever. And for some reason that terrified me. All this pressure sat on my lungs and suddenly I felt like _I_ was the one drowning. I couldn't breathe again until Hailstep dove for you and pulled you up."

Timberfur stares at Ottersplash, wide-eyed and stunned. _I had no idea… I didn't even know she was there when that happened._ Silence settles in the space between them, and tension follows close behind.

"Ottersplash," he breathes. "I didn't-"

"Don't," she interrupts him. "I already regret telling you."

He wants to pressure her, to apologize for scaring her, to tell her that he would never do it again. But he knows Ottersplash better than she gives him credit for; pressuring her would get them nowhere.

So instead he asks, "What's your favorite season?"

"Green-leaf," she replies. This time she doesn't make him wait for an answer, and the tension between them softens to something more breathable, and they spend the rest of the evening babbling like a lazy creek.

He never tells her this, but even after that day, he still considers her fearless. Because he thinks that there is something very fearless about opening up and recalling a memory like that, all venerable and whatnot.

Another takeaway from that conversation? She hides it well, but he knows that she's totally, madly in love with him too.

* * *

_Radiant._

Ottersplash loathes the word ' _beautiful'_. When Timberfur calls her beautiful it always ensures an argument because, in her eyes, she isn't.

Echomist is beautiful.

Rainflower is beautiful.

Shimmerpelt is beautiful.

Ottersplash is not beautiful.

And she is just fine with that. She has never desired beauty; she's always desired skill and confidence and she certainly has both. Beauty is superficial. Beauty is temporary. She is neither of those things.

Along with beautiful, Ottersplash also forbids Timberfur from calling her 'pretty', 'gorgeous', and 'stunning'. Timberfur hasn't even tried 'cute'. He thinks she might cuff him for that one.

Ottersplash insists she isn't beautiful. Timberfur disagrees.

So he spends days trying to think of a word akin to 'beautiful' that his opinionated mate won't hate, and for a while, he considers it an impossible task. She rejects everything he can think of!

"Just give up, Timberfur," she scoffs one day. "You're wasting your time."

_It doesn't feel like a waste of time._

And then one day it hits Timberfur like a strike of lightning: _Radiant._ It isn't a word he hears very often, but that didn't matter. All of a sudden he feels like he can see through the morning mist.

Ottersplash isn't beautiful. She is powerful, she is brave, and she is radiant.

" _Radiant_?" Ottersplash echos when he informs her, brow raised. "Are you serious? I'm about as radiant as a frog."

But Timberfur stubbornly shakes his head. _I'm not going to let her win this one._ "Ottersplash, you're never going to think of yourself as physically attractive, but trust me when I tell you that you're radiant."

She rolls her amber eyes. "Oh, yeah? How so?" she asks, almost _mockingly._

"It's the way you smile after a victory," Timberfur answers immediately, and Ottersplash actually looks caught off guard by his response. "It's the way you laugh when you're genuine. It's the way your eyes light up when you excited, it's the way you walk, it's the way you smirk, it's- _it's you_!" he finishes.

It isn't very often that Ottersplash is stunned to silence; this is one of those rare exceptions. She closes her mouth and studies her mate for a solid minute before she finally shrugs and meows, "Okay."

Timberfur raises his brow. "Okay?" he echos.

"Okay."

"So… that's it? I can call you radiant?"

Ottersplash rolls her eyes and turns her back on him, but not before he notices the faint hue that dusts her features. "Sure, whatever. Knock yourself out, fish-brain."

Timberfur smirks at her back; he's won.

Ottersplash isn't beautiful.

She is powerful.

She is fearless.

And She is more radiant than the sun.

**Author's Note:**

> an old one-shot that I'm still fond of. 
> 
> Timberfur/Ottersplash is one of those pairings that most people forget exist, but I liked them a lot when I read Crookedstar's Promise, and even more as I wrote 'If Wishes Were Falling Stars'. Both characters are cool on their own and I like how they mesh together. 
> 
> If I had the inspiration I would go back and edit the first part so that it's closer to the other two length-wise, but my new puppy is begging me to play with her and she has already mastered the art of looking pitiful, so...


End file.
